Ironing machine



MarCh 3, 1931. GORDON 1,795,023

IRONING MACHINE Original Filed April 14, 192 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 7-r 22 J2 I "am 5 mu-Ii? March 3, 1931. GORDON 1,795,023

IRONING MACHINE Original Filed April 14 1926 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Mai-ch 3, 1931. J. GORDON 1,795,023

IHONING MACHINE Original Filed April 14 2% 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Jay? 6Z0? 24 March 3, 1931. J. GORDON IRONING MACHINE Original Filed April 14 92 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Z7ZZf'O/f" I Jae/mes Gonomg March 3, 1931. .1. GORDON IRONING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Original Filed April 14 192 (m/don anzes Patented Mar. 3, 1931 PATEN'Ii OFFICE JAMES GORDQN, OI CHICAGO, ILLINOIS IRONI'NG MACHINE Application filed April 14, 1826, Serial No. 101,896. Renewed July 24, 1930.

This invention relates to improvements in ironing machines or mangles', and has for its principal object to rovide a simple and durable construction of devices of the character described, relatively light in weight and having manually controlled means for actuating the ironing shoe by the power devices used to operate the roller. A further ob ject is to provide an improved form of a combined ironing machine and cabinet therefor, whereby the machine may be folded down-- wardly into the cabinet, and the latter be used as a table when desired.

The present invention furthermore provides improvements in the form of machine disclosed in my prior application bearing Serial No. 730,588, filed August 7 1924.

The invention may best be understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which i v Figure 1 is a front view of an ironin machine and cabinet, with parts of the atter broken away.

Figure 2 is a side view of the apparatus shown in Figure 1, taken on line 22 of Figure Figure 3 is an enlarged plan view of the gear casing, with the cover removed.

- Flgure 4 is a detailed sectional view taken on line 4-4: of Figure 3.

Figure 4? is a detailed view of the tripping arm. r

f f vFigure 5 is a section taken on line 55 of Figure 4.

Figure 6 is a detail 6-6 of Figure 4.

Figure 7 is a section taken on line 7-7 of Figure 1.

Figure 8 is a fragmentary detail view of the insulating piece for the shoe, looking toward the face thereof.

' .Figure 9 is a fragmentary view in perspective of one endof the shoe, with parts broken away and the insulating piece removed to show the mounting for one of the heating elements. 2

= Figure 10 is a top plan view showing the central mounting of the shoe, and illustrating in slightly exaggerated dotted lines the section taken on line- -possibility of tipping the shoe longitudi nally so as to accommodate itself to varying thicknesses of material placed near opposite ends thereof.

Referring now to details shown in the drawings, it will be observed that no im- --proved form of machine is particular y designed to be supported upon a cabinet 9 when in use, but may be swung downwardly and enclosed within said cabinet. Details of this arrangement will be described after the parts of the machine proper have been pointed out.

The main elements of the machine comprise a gear housing 10 at one end of a roller 11, and a shoe 12 coacting with said roller. The roller is of the drum type provided with the usual fabric cover. As shown herein, the roller is supported by webs 13, 13 on a shaft 51 journalled in bearings 52 and 53 formed in opposite sides of the gear housing 10. i It 0; willthus be seen that the roller is supported at one end only by said gear housing, having its outer end free as shown in Figure 1. The shoe 12 comprises a casing 23, prefer ably formed of sheet metal, and including end plates 24, 24, a heating surface member 25 curved to conform with the shape of the roller 11, and a rear member 26. The heating elements shown herein are of the electrical resistance type, consisting. of two strlps 27, 27 suitably secured by means of brackets 28 at each end of said strip, as shown in detail in Figure 9. The heating elements are seated in recesses 27 --27* formed in the face of an insulating piece 28 of suitable composition for this purpose. In the form shown in Figures 7 and8, the insulating piece 28 is 7 arranged to fill most of the spacewlthm the shoe casing 23, with the exception of the heating element recesses 27-27 before mentioned, conduits 28 for the usual cur- 'rent conductors, and a series of longitudinally disposed heat distributing recesses or sockets 29 formed in the face of the msulatmg piece along opposite sides of the heat ng elements 27, 27. In the form shown in Flgures 7 and 8, three of such sockets are shown.-

"The arrangement is such that the heat generated in the heating elements l'ldiStI'iblltBd through the air spaces formed by these sockried on the outer end of the shoe actuating shaft 20. A safety trip lever 22 extends upwardly from toggle link 19 as clearly shown in Figure 7. Thearrangement is such that when the shoe 12 is pressed into engagement with the roller 11 as shown in this figure,

a stop 22 on bracket 17 engages lever 22 to limit the relative movement of these last named parts in a downward direction so that the axis of hinge pin 18 is slightly below the radial line extending through the axis of hinge pin-19'Hand shaft 14, along which the pressure is normally exerted. This arrangement of link 19 and shoe 12 in effect forms a toggle joint, which ermits full ower to be exerted'on the ro er throu h ink 19, unless the lever 22 is positive y rotked rearwardly so as to break the toggle connection, and thus release the pressure upon the shoe. This feature therefore affords a safety tripping means for quickly releasing the pressure in emergencies.

The hinged connections at pins 18 and 19" are preferably somewhat loose fitting so as to permit limited rockin movement of the shoe on its longitudina axis, and accommo'dating the shoe to materials of varying thicknesses at opposite ends of the roll operating arms of said U-shaped member.

er as shown in Fig. 10.

A spring 20 extends into osition to partially support the shoe 12 w en the lever 21 is wlthdrawn, so that the shoewill be maintained in proper position to re-engage the roller when actuated, as will hereinafter be more fully described. i

As will be clearly seen from Figure 1, a supporting bracket 33 is loosely mounted in pendant position on the outer end of shaft 20, adapted to form'a support for the shaft and shoe associated therewith, in the mam ner broadly disclosed-in my prior application, Serial No. 730,588, filed August 7, 1924,

although in the present instance this bracket and shaft 20 extend only to a point substantially midway the length of the roller 11 instead of to the extreme end of the roller lar 72 of the usual form, which passes through the inner side of said casing to prov1de an oil-tight bearing at this point.

, The gear casin 10 is provided with a plu-v rality of suitab e supporting legs 3131. The mechanism for operatlng the device W111 now be described. A motor operated shaftifi36 xexten@;through the rear wall ofagin a'worm gear fixed on stud shaft 39. aid s aft has bearing in supports 3939 at opposite ends of the housing 10 (see Figures 5 and 6). Adjacent the worm gear 38 on shaft 39 is a sleeve 40 and a cam 41 both loosely mounted on said shaft and arrah ed to rotate as a unit by reason of the act that the sleeve 40 carries a pawl .42 pivoted at 43 thereon having one end 44 thereof extending through an aperture 45 formed in the cam 41, as best shown in. Figure 6. A spring 42" is carried by the sleeve 40 in position to tend to force the outer end 44 of pawl 42 into engagement with one ofa series of notches 46--46 in a notched wheel 47 of the pawl 42, however, extends beyond the margin of the sleeve 40, that is to say, toward the gear wheel 38 in position to be engaged by suitable tripping devices, as will hereinafter morefully appear Means for actuating said shoe by power of the motor includes the cam 41, whlch is preferabl an eccentric, as best shown in-Figure 4, an has an arm riding on the peripher thereof and loosely mounted on the shoe she 20. The arm 60 is indirectly connected for actuating said shaft through a yoke 61 and a tension device 62 carried on a lever arm 63 which isfixed to the'shaft-20. In the form shown, the yoke 61 consists of a U-shaped member passing through an aperture 64 formedin the arm 60 and provided with coiled compression springs 6565 on the two The arrangement is such that the lower ends of said sprmgs engage brackets 66 extending laterally from the arm 63 so as to tend to roshown, this means comprising a coiled spring;

67 attached at one end and surrounding the shaft 20, and having a free end engaging the bottom of the casing 10, as clearly shown in Figures 4 and 5.

The means for driving the roller 11 includes a gear pinion 49 pinned on shaft 39, which is adapted to drive a gear 50 on a roller shaft 51, throughan intermediate idler casing 10 and carries thereon a worm 37 en- 7 fixed on the shaft 39. The opposite end' 48 75 carried on arm 76- under certain operative conditions ofthe. latter, as will hereinafter more fully be described. Said roller shaft is provided with suitable bearing collars 51 and 52 journalled, respectively, in bearings 53 and 54. A acking gland 55 with a cover plate 56 is pre erably secured over the end of the bearing collar 52 adjacent the roller so as to' render the gear casing oil-tight at this I shaft and the roller.

point. The controlling mechanism for the action of the gear will appear in connection with the following description of the mechanism for actuating the shoe 12.

Referring now to the idler gear75 and the means for bringing it into and out of driving engagement with the pinion 49 so as to driv the roller gear 50, the details of construction of this feature are best shown in Figure 4. In this figure it will be seen that the arm 76 is loosely mounted on roller shaft 51 and the gear 75 is mounted on said arm so as to be constantly in mesh with gear 50 on the latter shaft. The arrangement is such that the arm 76 may be pivoted downwardly on shaft 51 so as to take the pinion 75 out of mesh with driving pinion 49 on shaft 39 and thus break the driving connection between the latter The means for disengaging the pinion 7 5, herein comprises a projection 78 extending laterally, from the upper end of the rocking arm 63 which is fixed to the shoe actuating shaft 20 for operating the latter as already described. This projection 78 rides on a cam surface -7 9 formed on the upper surface of the arm 76. When the parts are in the position shown in Figure-4, the projection 78 is on the lowermost part of the cam surface 79 so as to permit the spring 80 to hold the idler gear 75 in meshing engagement with driving pinion 49. It will be seen, however, that when the cam 41 is rotated through an angle of 180 so as to throw the coacting arms 60 and 63 in a counterclockwise direction, as seen in'Figure 4, the projection 78 will engage the cam surface 79 so as to depress the lever 76 against the tension of spring 80 and thus carry the idler gear 75 out of driving engagement with the gear 49. Itwill thus be understood that whenever the shoe 12 is rocked rearwardly out of cooperative engagement with the roller, the driving connection to the roller is automatically broken and, conversely, when the shoe is actuated so as to be brought into contact with the roller, the driving connection is again automatically made so as to positively drive the roller. This feature is especially advantageous in case excessively thick material is placed between the.

roller and shoe, in which case the driving connection will be automatically broken.

Referring now in greater detail to the means for controlling the driving connection between the toothed gear 47 and the pawl 42 so as to drive the cam 41, the means herein provided comprises a tripping arm which is pivoted to the casing 10 by pin 86 so as to be swung in a substantially horizontal plane, as best shown in Figures 3, 4 and 4. This tripping arm has bifurcated ends 8787 extending on opposite sides and spanning the shaft 39 immediately adjacent the collar 40 which carries the pawl 42.- These bifurcated ends each carry thereon a projection 88 turned inwardly toward the pawl 42 and arranged at an inclined angle to said pawl so that when the latter is being rotated with the end 44 in engagement with one of the notches 46 in the notched wheel 47, the opposite end 48 of said pawl will become engaged under one or the other of the projections 88 so as to rock the pawl about its axis against the tension of spring 42a and cause the end 44 to be moved upwardly out of engagement with notch 46, as clearly shown in Figure 6. Suitable stops 89-89 are arranged at the lowermost ends of the projections 88, these two stops being arranged substantially at 180 from each other, with the result that the cam will not only be automatically disconnccted from driving engagement through the toothed wheel 47, as just described, but the rotation of the cam will be automatically stopped when the end 48 of pawl 42 engages one or the other of the stops 8989; Furthermore, as clearly shown in Figure 4, one of the stops 8989 is in radial .alinement with the lowest side of cam 41 while the other stop 89 is in radial alinement with the highest side of said cam. By reason of this arrangement, it will now be clear'that the pawl tripping surfaces 88 with their respective stops 89,

.will be effective to stop rotation of the cam in either one of two positions, namely, when the shoe 12 is in fully engaged position with the roller as shown in Figure 4, or when the cam has been moved a half revolution from the position shown in this figure, in which case it will be understood that the shoe is in fully disengaged position.

By reason of the pivotal mounting of the tripping arm 85 on a vertical axis, as described, it will be observed that the tripping surfaces 88 may be swung out of the path of operative engagement with the pawl 42, in which case the end 44'of said. pawl will be free to engage any one of the notches 46 of notched wheel 47 and thus cause the cam 41 to be rotated. In the form shown, operation of the tripping lever 85 is controlled from the exterior of the casing by means of a handle 90 arranged on the top of the casing and having a shaft 91 extending downwardly through bearing 92 and provided with a lever 93 with an end member 94 working in slot 95 on said tripping lever. Another arm 95 extends forwardly from the shaft 91 and engages arm 85 to provide a stop for the controlling handle just described.

' The operation of the shoe actuating mechanism and associated means for controlling the rotation of the roller, will now be described.

With the parts in the position shown in Figures 3 to 6, the machine is in condition for normal operation, that is to say, the roller 11 may be driven by the motor while the shoe 12 is pressed into operative engagement with said roller. The power for driving the roller is then effective from the power shaft 36,

worm gear 37, worm 38, than 39, pinion 49, idler gear 75, gear and roller shaft 51. Pressure of the shoe 12 is aiforded and maintained by reason of the position of the cam- 'ment with theroller. It will furthermore be understood that the cam 41 is held in sta-' tionary position by reason of the fact that the end 48 of pawl 42 is held in depressed engagement under the lower projection 88 carried by the tripping arm 85, thus maintaining the opposite end 44 of said pawl out 'ofdriving engagement with, notched wheel 47. 'Furthermore, the cam 41 is positively restrained from rotation in the position shown, by reason of the fact that the end 48 of pawl 42 is positively engaged against the lower stop 89 carried by the tripping arm 85.

Now, when it is desired to disengage the shoe 11 from the roller 12, lever 90 on top of the casing is manipulated in a direction to rock the tripping arm 85 with its projections88 and stop 89 away from the pawl 42. This movement releases the end 48 of said pawl from its restrained position, and the spring 42a is then free to force the opposite end 44 of said pawl downwardly against the periphery of the notched wheel 47. This notched wheel 47 is rotating atall times so thatas soon as a notch 46 comes into regist'ering position with the pawl 42, the samedrops into said notch so as to clutch the pawl and cam 41 positively to the wheel 47 and rotate said cam under power of the motor.

Rotation of the cam is permitted to continue 1n 'tlllS manner so long as the trippingarin 85 is maintained out of cooperative pos tion with the pawl 42, but under normal operthe pawl out of driving engagement with the notched wheel 47. The cam is thus stopped from further rotation in a second position at ,a point 180 from its first position, but with the arm engaging the lowermost part of the cam so that there is no further pressure upon the shoe; in fact, it will be understood that pressure is gradually relieved durmg the entire time that the cam 41 is being rotated through its arc of 180, and when thecam finally stops its rotation, the shoe is swung into its fully open position by the action of the coiled spring 67, aided by gravity. It will be understood, inv addition, that when the arm 60 and its associated arm 63 are rocked so as to open the shoe, the projection 78 carried by the latter arm engages the inclined cam surface 79 on arm 76 so as to swing the latter arm downwardly and disengage idler gear from its driving connection with gear 49. This automatically disengages the driving connection from shaft 39 to roller shaft 51. It will thus be seen that the roller is driven'only at such times as the shoe is engaged therewith and automatically ceases its rotation as soon as the shoe is disengaged therefrom, excepting of course, in cases when the safety trip lever 22 associated with the toggle link 19 is actuated in emergency to release the shoe, as hereinbefore described.

Referring now to the improved means for mounting the machine upon the upper surface of the cabinet but with provision for folding the machine downwardly into the cabinet when not in use, details of this arrangement are best shown in Figures 1 and 2.

The cabinet 9 is provided-with suitable supporting legs 100-100 and consists of a front wall 101', rear wall 102, end walls 103-103, a hinged shelf 104 upon which the machine is normally carried, a downwardly-swinging hinged projection 104a at the front edge of said shelf, and a cover 105 hinged along the rear of the cabinet. The

motor 107 is mounted in a suitable compartment 108 at one 'end of the cabinet beyond the hinged shelf 104 which carries the machine. This motor is preferably of the usual electric type. transmitted to the power shaft 36 of the machine to a belt 108 engaged with pulleys 109 and 110 carried on the power shaft 36 and motor armature, respectively, and intermediate idler pulleys 112 and 113 mounted in position beneath the shelf 104 and arranged so that the belt 108 passes through said shelf. The

Power from the motor is.

arrangement is such that the power from the motor may be transmitted to the machine in ,the usual manner, but by initially raising and collapsing projection 104 on shelf 104 the enthe machine may be folded downwardly along the hinges 115 at the rear of shelf 104, as shown in dotted lines in Figure 2.- The hinged cover 105 may then be swung upwardly to close the space normally occupied by the shelf 104, thereby providing a complete closed cabinet with a flat upper surface when the ironing" machine is not in use.

I claim as my invention:

1. In an ironing machine, a roller, :1 coopcrating shoe, actuating means for moving said shoe relative to said roller including an oscillating member, a toggle connection forming the sole connection between said shoe and said oscillating member, stop means limiting the relative movement of said toggle connection in one direction when the shoe is normally moved into cooperative position with said roller, and manually controlled means for breaking the toggle connection at will in the opposite direction, substantially as described.

2. In an ironing machine, a roller, a coopcrating shoe, actuatin means for moving said shoe relative to, said roller including an oscillating member, a toggle connection disposed centrally of the longitudinal axis of said shoe and forming the sole connection between said shoe and said oscillating member, stop means limiting the relative movement of said toggle connection in one direction when the shoe is normally moved into cooperative position with said roller, and manually controlled meansfor breaking the toggle connection at will in the opposite direction, substantially as described.

3. In an ironing machine, a roller, a cooperating shoe, actuating means for moving said shoe relative to said roller including an oscillating member, a centrally disposed toggle link forming the sole connection between said shoe and said oscillating member, stop means limiting the relative movement of said toggle connection in one direction when the shoe is normally moved into cooperative position with said roller, and manually controlled means for breaking the toggle connection at will, said toggle connection bein relatively loose-fitting so as to permit said s cc to accommodate itself under pressure to materials of ditferent tlricknesses at opposite ends of the roller.

4. In an ironing machine, a roller and a coacting shoe, a motor driven shaft, drive gearing interposed between said shaft and said roller for driving the latter including two gears, and apinion mounted for orbital movement about and constantly meshed with one of said gears, motor driven means connected with said shoe for rocking the latter toward and away from said roller, and means associated with said last-named means for automatically moving said pinion out of operative driving engagement with the second mentioned gear when the shoe is moved out of engagement with said roller.

5. In an ironing machine, a roller and a coacting shoe, a motor driven shaft, drive gearing interposed between said shaft and said roller fordriving the latter includin a driving gear, a driven gear connected with the roller for driving the same, a pinion carried on an arm mounted concentric with said driven gear and in driving relation therewith, means for maintaining said pinion in operative engagement with said driving gear, motor driven means connected with said shoe for rocking the latter toward and away from said roller, and means associated with said last-named means for automatically moving said pinion out of operative driving engagemeans for maintaining said pinion in operative engagement with said driving gear, motor drlven means connected wlth said shoe for rocking the latter toward and away from said roller, including a rocking lever and a cam for actuating the same, and means operatively connecting said pinion arm and said rocking lever for automatically moving said pinion into or out of driving engagement with its associated driving gear when the shoe is moving into or out of engagement with said roller, respectively.

7. In an ironing machine, a roller and a coacting shoe, and motor operated means for moving said shoe relative to said roller including a rocking shaft connected to, said shoe, a driven cam, an arm loosely mounted on said rockin shaft and engaging said cam, a second arm fixed to said rocking shaft, and tension means interposed between said lastnamed arms.

8. In an ironing machine, a roller and a coacting shoe, a casing, and motor operated and extending into said casin a driven cam1g an arm loosely mounted on t e inner end 0 said rocking shaft and enga 'ing said cam, a secondarm fixed to said roc 'ng shaft, and tension means interposed between said lastnamed arms, said arms and tension means all being disposed within said casing.

9. In an ironing machine, a roller, a co acting shoe, motor operated means for actuating said shoe, a lever connected with said shoe for rocking the latter toward and away from said roller, a rotating cam for actuating said lever, clutch means for said cam including a pawl rotatable with said cam and having detachable engagement with said motor operated means, means for moving said pawl out of operative driving engagement comprising a pair of tripping members disposed toautOmatically disengage said pawl after said cam and pawl have een rotated through a predetermined arc, stops associated with each of said tripping members for positively limiting rotation of saidcam, and manually operated means for rendering said tripping members temporarily ineffective.

10. In combination with an ironing ma chine, a cabinet having an u per shelf for normally supporting said mac me on top of said cabinet, said shelf having a downwardly collapsible portion along one edge and being hinged to said cabinet along the other edge for folding downwardly into the latter .when said collapsible portion is in folded posltlon, and a separate hinged cover movable into position across the top of said cabinet to form a flat closure therefor when said first named shelf is in lowered position.

11. In combination with an ironing ma- 10 chine, a cabinethaving an upper shelf? for normally supporting sald machine above the 7 top of said cabinet, said shelf being hinged 1 along one edge of said cabinet for folding downwardly into the latter with said machine secured thereon, a motor mounted in a said cabinet below the upper surface thereof and to one side of said machine supporting shelf, said motor having operative connection with said machine, including an endless flexible belt and deflecting pulleys disposed in said. cabinet substantially coincident with the pivotal axisof said supporting shelf, and a separate hinged cover movable into position across the top of said cabinet to form a fiat closure therefor when said first named shelf is in lowered position.

12. In an ironing machine, a motor, a roll- .er and a coacting shoe, means for automatically forming a driving connection between said motor and roller when said shoe'is moved into operative engagement with said roller, and means responsive to excessive thickness of'material passing between said roller and shoe for automatically disengaging said roller from driving connection with said motor.

13. In an ironing machine, a roller and a coacting shoe, a motor, means for simultaneously moving said shoe and roller-into operative engagement and for connecting said 0 roller with said motor, and means responsive to excessive --thickness of material passing therebetween for automatically disengaging said roller from driving connection with. said motor. o

14. In an ironing machine, a motor, a roller and a coactin shoe, means for moving said shoe mto yiel 'n engagement with said roller, means aifor 'ng driving connection bee a tween said motor and said roller,and means effective at a predetermined yielding position of said shoe-for automatically disengaging said roller driving means.

15. In an ironing machine, a motor,- a roller and a coacting s oe, a rocking shaft connected with sa1 d shoe, motor 0 'erated means for moving said shoe into yie ding enga ement with said roller, means controlled iy said last named means forafiording a drivmg engagement between said motor and rollor when said shoe is moved toward said roller, and means efi'ectiv'e at a predetermined yielding position of said shoe for automatically dlsengazfiing said roller driving means.

S1 ed at 'cago, Illinois, this 10th day of o5 Ap ,1926. JAMES GORDON."

DISCLAIMER 1,795,023.-James Gordon, Chica 0, I11." .IRONING MACHINE. Patent dated March 3,

- 1931. Disclaimer filed arch 25, 1942, by the inventor.

Hereb disclaims claim 9.

[of fiicial Gazette April 21, 1942.] 

